Verse 2210

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

जलादिषु यथैकोऽपि नानात्मा सवितेक्ष्यते ।
युगपन्नच भेदोऽस्य तथा शब्दोऽपि गम्यताम् ॥ २२१० ॥

jalādiṣu yathaiko'pi nānātmā savitekṣyate |
yugapannaca bhedo'sya tathā śabdo'pi gamyatām || 2210 ||

“Though the sun is one, yet it is seen (by one and the same man) as diverse in water and other surfaces at the same time; and yet it does not make it many; the same should be understood to be the case with sound also.”—[Ślokavārtika—eternality of words, 178-179, though the reading there is slightly different].—(2210)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Says the Opponent—If the Word-Sound is all-pervading, how is it that it is perceived as several—just like the Jar,—when there is diversity of place? As a matter of fact, as it is all-pervading, it should be always perceived in an uninterrupted form. Nor should there be any distinctions of far and near in the case of what is all-pervading;—nor can it come in from any place, as it is always present everywhere. Further as it is eternal, there can be no such distinctions as long and short, or of various degrees of loudness and so forth. Nor again is difference of time possible.—From all this it follows that—because Sound is actually perceived as affected and diversified in place, time and form, therefore, like the Jar, it must be diverse and evanescent. How then is it that the assertion has been made above (under Text 2207) that)—“Inasmuch as the idea of the production of Sound has been rejected, etc. etc.”?

The Mīmāṃsaka’s answer to the above is as follows:—[see verse 2210 above]:

What is meant to be shown by this is that the fact of being perceived as diverse in different places, as a Reason for diversity, is ‘Inconclusive’.—(2210)